In my opinion Jake is just as classically trained as Randy was, but I think it is Jake's favoring of the Pentatonic that keeps him from getting the credit he deserves in this regard. Jake never got too into the Yngwie trend of arpeggios for the sake of arpeggios. He has an authenticity that would just as well be at home in the delta. He also has a lot more pure feeling in his playing than Randy did. Jake is also better at double picking than Randy was. In fact, I never heard Randy do any double picking. Jake is up there with Steve Morse so far as laser accurate double picking goes.

Randy, was the man and a trrailblazer, but I think Jake actually performed the Ozzy material with Randy on it better than Randy did live. Who knows where things would have gone and it what it would be like today if Randy was still with us. Now John Sykes on the other hand is one of my favorites as well. I love the Bad Boy Live release and have still been following him. He is supposed to have some acoustic release in the near future. Too bad the talks of him and Mike Portnoy fell apart.